A Bite of the Big Apple
by vespertine dreams
Summary: The CSI-NY team are followed by a TV crew who are making a docu-drama about them. Minor slash Danny/Don. Reviews Welcome.


A Bite of the Big Apple.

_3 months ago._

"Danny, this is Alex. He's going to be shadowing you for the next few days to research his role."

Danny Messer looked up into dark green eyes and a handsome face. Damn, but if he wasn't already spoken for; he was a sucker for pretty eyes and this guy's were second best around here. Seeing Don standing out on the corridor, he smiled. Nah, what had be been thinking? No way could this guy compete with _that_.

"Hey, Alex. So, you're gonna be me, huh?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, although the character isn't called Messer. They kept the first names, though," he said. Mac left them to talk, heading off back to his office to collect his own 'shadow'.

The TV company had made all the right calls and got their permission to do this show, a docu-drama about the cases of the NYPD and CSI departments and the lives of the people who worked there. Their idea was to have the actors shadow their real-life counterparts to get a feel for the job they would be portraying. The characters had already been based on the people here, the writers hanging around for a while too, meaning that when it came to air, it would be like looking in a mirror.

Alex glanced back to see who Danny was smiling at. "So, you and Detective Flack are in a relationship?"

Danny frowned. "Yeah. That a problem?"

"No, I never meant to imply that," Alex told him hurriedly. "I'm not sure about Jamie- he's playing Detective Flack's character, by the way- but I think it's great. You have to admit that he is kinda hot."

Whether he meant Don or Jamie, Danny had to agree. Whilst Jamie didn't have the same gorgeous blue eyes as Don, he did look damn fine.

"So, where do we start?" he asked Alex. "What in particular do you need to see?"

The actor shrugged his shoulders. "Just go about your daily routine and I'll observe, if that's OK."

For the rest of the day, Alex followed Danny around with a notebook in his pocket, occasionally jotting down observations, as he watched carefully. Whatever Danny had been expecting from this, it hadn't actually turned out too bad. Alex was a fun guy, not the pretentious thespian he had expected, willing to have a laugh and a joke with the guys at lunch and even coming to the bar with them after work.

"So, how's Don number two coming along?" Danny asked when he and Flack met up in the bar. Under the guise of going to the bar to order drinks, he'd cornered the tall detective in a darkened corner where he could kiss the breath out of him in relative privacy.

Don grinned. "Not too bad. How's yours?"

"I like the guy. Tell you something, I think he's kinda looking forward to playin' house with Don Two."

Don glanced to the table were the others had sat down, noticing the fact that Alex's eyes were fixed on them. In the dim light of the bar, they could see a tiny smile appear on his face as his gaze flicked to his soon-to-be on-screen boyfriend.

"I think you might be right," Don agreed with a grin and a quick grope of Danny's ass before they picked up their drinks. "And can you stop callin' him Don Two? It's just a bit creepy."

Back at the table, they sat down just as Stella finished the story she was telling, making them all laugh.

Mac walked in then, hand in hand with Lyndsay. They joined the group, Mac taking a drinks order and going to get the next round before sitting down next to his girlfriend.

The actors were relating tales of their experiences in the world of TV and comparing notes with each other about what they'd seen and done that day in the lab.

"So, how long until we see this show on TV?" Lyndsay asked, curious. They still had the actors there for three more days, and then it was off to film the first episodes.

-------

_Present day._

Danny set the DVD into the player and sat back down on the couch next to Don. All of their colleagues were here, the anticipation and excitement almost crackling in the air. The TV company had sent them an advance copy of the pilot episode of 'A Bite of the big Apple' a week before it's TV scheduling debut and so they had all gathered at Danny and Don's house to watch it.

"Man, this is excitin'," Danny said, aiming the remote control at the TV.

Don shifted so that he could lounge back against Danny, his feet propped up on the coffee table in front of them. All around the room, their friends' attention was fixed on the screen as the opening credits rolled, excitedly pointing out the characters based on them as the actors appeared.

Well, that's different, Danny thought about twenty minutes in. A glance across the room told him that he wasn't the only one surprised by that particular character development.

"Danny and Lyndsay?" he asked in disbelief, staring at the screen. "Are they nuts?"

Lyndsay pretended to look offended at his disdain. "What's wrong with me?"

"Aside from the fact you're lacking one part of the anatomy that kinda gets my interest, and that you're sleepin' with my boss, nothin'," he shot back, grinning.

Don chuckled as he leaned back to look up at Danny. "Probably the only time you'll get to date the boss's girl," he teased. "Or any girl, for that matter?"

"What's the matter, Donny? Jealous?"

"Yeah, right. Maybe if I thought for even one second that you could get a girl like Lyndsay…"

Danny frowned. "Whaddya mean, if? Course I could."

Lyndsay kicked him in the ankle. "Excuse me, but I don't think so. I do have some taste, you know," she joked.

"Told you so," Don pointed out smugly.

Danny pinched his arm, hard, before informing him, "Well you're the one who asked me out, remember? What does that say about _your_ taste?" Danny's grin widened as the show continued. "Besides, you haven't seen who they paired you up with yet." He indicated to the screen, laughing at Don's exclamation.

"Oh man, you gotta be kidding: Detective Angel?" He sighed.

The version of the scripts that the writers had been working on when they'd been in the labs had been pretty much realistic. Now, it seemed, that they'd had a change of heart.

Stella and Mac shushed them, trying to listen. "They got one thing right," Mac told the three of them. "You squabble like a bunch of kids."

End.


End file.
